If you are looking for Bible readings for Valentine’s Day, this list gives you fifteen passages about love, from the Song of Solomon to the letters of Paul and John. It is for anyone who wants to think about love through Scripture, whether you are celebrating with a spouse, grieving a lost partner, single and content, or simply wanting your affection for others to be shaped by God. Every passage points away from a greeting-card version of love and toward a steady, costly, faithful kind that God first shows us.
Verses on Love That Is Patient and Kind
These passages describe what love does in ordinary days, not only in romantic moments. They are useful to read slowly before a dinner, a phone call or a difficult conversation with someone you care about.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
4 Love is patient and is kind; love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud, 5 doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil; 6 doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
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Paul lists love in action: patience, kindness, not keeping score. Before you open a card or send a message today, pick one of these qualities and practice it in one specific exchange, such as waiting an extra moment before answering a frustrating remark.
1 John 4:7-8
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves has been born of God, and knows God. 8 He who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, for God is love.
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John connects love to the very nature of God, not just to feelings between people. Let this shape your motive today: ask whether what you are offering comes from a desire to give rather than from a wish to be repaid.
Ephesians 5:1-2
1 Be therefore imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 Walk in love, even as Christ also loved you, and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling fragrance.
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Paul asks us to walk in love as Christ loved us, giving himself up for others. Choose one small act of self-giving today, such as taking on a chore someone else usually does, and do it without announcing it.
Verses on Faithful Commitment
Love in Scripture is not only warm; it is steady. These readings speak to long marriages, lasting friendships and the quiet decision to keep showing up for someone.
Ruth 1:16-17
16 Ruth said, “Don’t urge me to leave you, and to return from following you, for where you go, I will go; and where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God my God. 17 Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me.”
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Ruth’s words to Naomi are a vow of loyalty made when loyalty cost her something. Consider writing a sentence of your own commitment to someone close to you, and then keep it in a concrete way this week.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. 10 For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him who is alone when he falls, and doesn’t have another to lift him up.
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The Teacher observes that two people working together are better than one, because each can help the other up. Think of one person who has carried you recently, and send them a note of thanks today.
Proverbs 3:3-4
3 Don’t let kindness and truth forsake you. Bind them around your neck. Write them on the tablet of your heart. 4 So you will find favor, and good understanding in the sight of God and man.
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These verses urge us not to let faithfulness and kindness leave us, but to bind them to our hearts. Name one habit of faithfulness you want to strengthen this month, such as a weekly phone call or a standing date, and put it on your calendar.
Verses on Love Rooted in God’s Own Love
Human love reflects something larger. These passages remind us that the love we give others begins with the love we have first received, which is why they make good companions for a day that is often about romance.
Romans 8:38-39
38 For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from God’s love, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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Paul lists the powers that cannot separate us from God’s love in Christ. If you are feeling insecure in a relationship today, read this slowly and speak one of these truths aloud to yourself before you decide how to respond.
1 John 4:19
We love him, because he first loved us.
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John says we love because God first loved us, which takes the pressure off our own performance. Before you try to make someone feel loved, take a few minutes to receive God’s love for you in silence.
Zephaniah 3:17
The LORD, your God, is among you, a mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with joy. He will calm you in his love. He will rejoice over you with singing.
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The prophet pictures God rejoicing over his people with singing, a tender image that goes beyond duty. Consider an ordinary moment today, perhaps a walk or a commute, to imagine God delighting in you rather than merely tolerating you.
Verses for Loving Those Who Are Hard to Love
Not every relationship on February 14 is easy. These readings speak to strained families, difficult coworkers, and the ache of loving someone who is far away or hurting.
Matthew 5:44
But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you…
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Jesus calls his listeners to pray for those who mistreat them, which is love of a very different kind. Choose one person who has wounded you and pray a simple, honest prayer for their good today.
Colossians 3:12-14
12 Put on therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, humility, and perseverance; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, if any man has a complaint against any; even as Christ forgave you, so you also do. 14 Above all these things, walk in love, which is the bond of perfection.
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Paul asks believers to clothe themselves with compassion, forgiveness and love, which binds everything together. If there is a grudge you have been carrying, decide one concrete step toward forgiveness, even if the feeling has not yet caught up.
Galatians 6:2
Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
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Bearing one another’s burdens is a practical form of love that fulfills the law of Christ. Ask someone who is struggling this week what would help most, and then do that one thing.
How to Use These Verses
You might copy one or two of these passages onto a card for someone you love, or write them in the margin of a journal you keep for the season. Handwriting a verse slows the reading and makes it easier to remember, especially when the day feels busy or commercial.
Read a passage in the morning before the day begins, then return to it briefly in the evening to notice where it showed up. Praying the verse back to God as your own words, asking him to help you live it, turns a reading into a conversation and keeps the focus on his faithful love rather than on your performance.
A Short Prayer for Valentine’s Day
Lord, you loved me before I knew how to love anyone back, and your love has never depended on my moods or my success. Teach me to receive that love deeply so that it spills out into the people around me in patient, kind and faithful ways. Help me see the people I care about, including those who are hard to love, with your eyes today. Where I have been selfish or distant, show me the next step toward honesty and repair. Be near to anyone who feels lonely, grieving or overlooked on this day, and remind them that they are seen and held. Amen.
